The Benefits of Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a method of healing that originated in China. There are certain imbalances that acupuncture can correct by stimulating specific acupuncture points that are scattered throughout the body. Although the precise date in which acupuncture has started and evolved and as to why it had been invented is quite unknown, or untraceable, it is believed that some Chinese doctors noticed that those soldiers that were wounded in the war by arrows are apparently cured of chronic afflictions that were otherwise untreated.

The second country that is believed to be where acupuncture had spread to outside of China is Korea. There is a legend within Korea that acupuncture actually was developed by the legendary Korean emperor Dangun. Though many attests to that claim, they say that it is likely that acupuncture was brought into Korea from a Chinese colonial prefecture.

Theory states that qi flows through the body and regulates bodily function; it is believed that any disruption of the said flow is the cause of diseases. Acupuncture supposedly aims to correct imbalances in the flow by stimulating certain acupuncture points. We are not sure how acupuncture exactly works scientifically. All we know is that it can benefit a lot of people in a lot of ways.

Benefits of acupuncture for healing

Acupuncture involve penetrating the skin with different sizes of metallic needles about the size of thick hair. The needles are targeted to certain acupuncture points that are all over the body. Contrary to usual perceptions about needles, acupuncture needles do not hurt, depending on your acupuncturist, you will either feel little or no sensation as the needles penetrate your skin. The needles then rescue the stuck qi to restore the normal body flow. It is believed that those qi that are stuck and are disrupting the normal body flow are the major cause of diseases. So removing the stuck qi through acupuncture is said to be able to help heal the disease.

The points into which the needles are directed are believed to be points that allow entry to channels. These channels are the gateway to access the body flow. So depending on the illness, there are corresponding points that are stimulated to heal the person and restore the body to its normal state. Acupuncture has been proved and tested to stimulate the immune system; it also affects the circulation, blood pressure, rhythm and volume of the heart, secretion of gastric acid and production of reed and white blood cells. With that said, it is widely believed that whatever your disease is, the acupuncturist need only to locate the corresponding acupuncture points and stimulate the stuck qi that is said to be attributed to the disease.

The release of a variety of hormones that respond to injuries can also be stimulated by acupuncture. Acupuncture for healing is now being widely known, more and more doctors are advising their patients to undergo acupuncture along with the medications they prescribe to greatly help with the healing process.

Benefits of acupuncture for cancer patients

Acupuncture offered in cancer centers are being widely accepted nowadays. Acupuncture does not claim to heal cancer, to say that acupuncture is an “alternative medicine” to cancer can be very confusing. Many cancer centers offer acupuncture as an “integrative” and “complementary” treatment, not as “alternative medicine, that means that acupuncture is received by the patients along with conventional treatments such as their usual surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy that are normally used to treat cancer.

Benefits of acupuncture for cancer patients don’t necessarily mean that it can help heal the disease. It simply means that acupuncture can help cancer patients in a number of ways; an example of this is that it can help reduce nausea, vomiting, and fatigue that are associated with chemotherapy. Acupuncture can also act as pain reliever from neuropathy, incisions, tumors or chronic issues. Studies have proven that patients receiving acupuncture require less pain medicines than those who don’t. It can also help in improving digestion, radiation treatments may lead to some patients losing their taste, and it can also lead to pain and swelling in the throat that makes it difficult to swallow. Acupuncture has been found to reduce these side effects, allowing the patient to swallow normally, it is also said that acupuncture can help restore appetite. Ongoing physical, mental and emotional support of cancer patients can also be gained in undergoing acupuncture, as it is said that regular sessions can identify imbalances and therefore guide patients to move toward more optimal health. Research shows that acupuncture is safe, effective and gentle, without unwanted side effects, and it can also restore health and balance by stimulating the natural healing process of the body. Lastly, cancer patients that undergo regular sessions of acupuncture claim that they feel calmer and happier. Many of them states that they have less worry and anxiety.

Benefits of acupuncture for weight loss

For those people who are having a hard time losing weight, acupuncture also has some proven benefits that can help you do so. Acupuncture for weight loss is now being widely embraced, but you have to remember that it’s not that easy as walking into a clinic and saying “I want acupuncture to lose weight, please.” There are a lot of things that have to be considered before determining what kind of acupuncture you need to shed off that weight. First thing that has to be looked upon is the reason you gained weight in the first place. Upon determining the reason for gaining weight, the acupuncturist will then explain to you the different acupuncture points that are spread all over our bodies. Targeting and stimulating a certain point may help in a specific way. For example, the reason for gaining weight is digestive problems you get when you disregard your stomach’s signal that you are already full and you still eat. That can lead to different kinds of digestive problems. If this is the case, there are acupuncture points in the stomach that can control that kind of compulsive eating, thus preventing the acquisition of some digestive problems, and as well as helping you lose weight. Another example is if you are one of the people gaining weight due to hypothyroidism, the explanation for that is the thyroid gland not being able to produce the sufficient amount of thyroid hormones.

In these cases, there are certain thyroid stimulation points that can be triggered in order to help the thyroid gland produce more thyroid hormones. There is still a long list of benefits you can get from acupuncture for weight loss, you just have to remember that not everyone is the same, each person has a unique reason for needing it, and so it is wise to visit your doctor first.

Benefits of acupuncture for Insomnia

If you are one of those people who are having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Acupuncture just might be able to help you. If your insomnia is attributed to anxiety, then acupuncture can help increase nighttime melatonin production and total sleep time. Studies also show that the patients who receive acupuncture also falls asleep faster, are less aroused at night, and are less stressed. Other studies have also shown that people without health problems but are having a hard time sleeping can also be helped by acupuncture. There are certain stimulation points that are used to trigger sleep inducing effects in acupuncture.

One example is the heart, according to Chinese beliefs; the heart is the throne of the mind, if the heart is disturbed the mind then produces vivid nightmares. Triggering the stimulation points in the heart can help reduce the nightmare and thus helping the person stay asleep. Another instance that may result to sleeplessness is when heat is inside the body. Even if you are cold physically, if your body is inducing heat inside, that may cause you to become restless and therefore uncomfortable and you may tend to wake up frequently at night. Heat inside the body can be caused by a lot of things; some of these are eating a lot late at night, drinking alcohol excessively in general and poor dietary habits. This happens because the body is having a hard time processing the energy at night, thus heating up and making you uncomfortable enough to not be able to sleep. Acupuncture helps by reducing the excess heat and helping your body process the energy you need and help stop your body flow being stagnant due to poor dietary habits, therefore helping you sleep more comfortable without frequently waking up at night.

Benefits of acupuncture for fertility

Although this method of acupuncture is not widely believed or accepted yet, there have been studies that have proven that the effects of acupuncture targeted in the reproductive system can actually help in fertility of both men and women. Most practicing acupuncturists claim that the regulation of the body system can be helped by acupuncture. This aids stabilize the hormones level and help in the blood flow in the reproductive system, which will in turn increase the ovarian function in women and as well as sperm production in men. Studies on acupuncture for fertility in men have proven that regular sessions of acupuncture increases the sperm count of men which is about 10 to 12 million living sperm every ejaculation. It is also proven to strengthen motility, the strength where the sperm swims.

When it comes to women’s fertility, the needles are placed in the energy points of the ovaries to improve the blood flow, the proven effect of acupuncture for fertility is that when done regularly, it is proven to improve blood supply to the ovaries, which in turn improves their function, it also strengthens the uterus making it easier to nourish a fetus and reduce the risk of miscarriage. There are many ways to battle infertility, but if you decide to try acupuncture, it is suggested to first talk to your doctor about it, if he agrees, then as that you get referred to a licensed acupuncturist, preferably someone trained and have a lot of experience, and someone affiliated with medical centers to reduce risks.

Benefits of acupuncture in pregnancy

While acupuncture is not widely accepted in helping with fertility, many people still do not believe despite the fact that there are proven studies and many positive results, undergoing it when you are already pregnant is a different story, there are a lot of benefits a pregnant woman can get from acupuncture. The most common benefit is that acupuncture is proven to reduce stress, pain, uncomfortable feelings, fatigue, back aches, heartburn, constipation, nausea or vomiting, swelling, puffiness and cramps a mom to be might be experiencing due to pregnancy. It is said to regulate the body movement thus helping the circulation move smoother and resulting into the reduction of such pregnancy related symptoms.

Acupuncture is also recommended to treat more complex conditions that pregnancy sometimes brings. Some high-risk pregnancy has been helped by acupuncture by stopping the bleeding and preventing miscarriage. Babies that are small for their dates can also be helped by acupuncture in their development; lastly acupuncture can help reduce maternal blood pressure to prevent eclampsia, a life threatening condition of some pregnant women which involves having seizures. Acupuncture also has its benefits during post pregnancy, since after giving birth the body must rapidly adapt to a new set of demands. It can help the body recover from challenges or pregnancy and childbirth. It can be beneficial to women who just gave birth especially if they are feeling fatigued, depressed, feverish, sweaty, restless, dizzy, constipated, experiencing bleeding, or are in pain. It can also regulate the woman’s milk supply and can help restart menstruation.

Benefits of acupuncture for children

Acupuncture for children is becoming increasingly common for headaches, stomachaches, back pains, depression and any other frequent health conditions that children feel. Acupuncture can also be used as a preventive medicine to prevent other potential health issues that children might have, some of these include ADHD, Anxiety and sick cell diseases. If your child’s absences are increasing into an alarming number because of headaches or stomach pains, you might want to consider asking their doctor if they can undergo acupuncture, since it has been proven to help children reduce pain felt that causes their absences and inability to participate in school and thus stopping them to enjoy life. Children healthcare facilities that offer acupuncture also reported that pain levels of children decreased dramatically after receiving several acupuncture targeted to their specific kind of pain.

Acupuncture for children have already helped with a wide range of ailments, from headaches to even effects of ADHD, and is a safe alternative to medicines that parents do not want their children taking. Increasingly more parents and health care providers are turning to acupuncture as an effective and necessary method of reestablishing and maintaining health for their children’s welfare. Since children tend to move and squirm during the procedure, acupuncture for children is equipped with alternative for the said instances. The use of magnets, acupressure, and tacks, a small press needle that looks like Band-Aids are implemented especially when the patient tend to move around often making it hard for the acupuncturist to target the points they have to stimulate. Parents don’t need to worry since those alternative have the same effect as it is of the needles that are used for adults.

Benefits of acupuncture in anxiety and stress relief

Majority of people seeking acupuncture help are those troubled by stress or anxiety since these two problems can lead to more complex problems, or other problems like depression and insomnia. People tend to undergo a series of acupuncture sessions to lessen stress and anxiety. Studies have shown that after a few sessions, the patients all claim that they all tend to be calmer and less stressed. Some even reported that their anxiety and fear have completely stopped. Acupuncture’s purpose is to regulate the flow of qi, therefore restoring the body to its normal state, creating body hormones in the process. If the body’s function or flow is not disrupter or returned to normal state, it is said that stress and anxiety are lessened or prevented. Preventing the problem before it gets the chance to be more complex. Acupuncture can still work even in the more complex problems like depression and insomnia, but still it is better to prevent the problem from ever happening than curing it when it’s already there right?

Of course despite of all the benefits acupuncture brings to us, there are still disadvantages that are to be considered if you want to consider having a treatment. Acupuncture is said to be a healing method, however it is limited to conditions that can be reached through manipulating bodily energies. A number of physical diseases like tumors cannot be healed by acupuncture. One disadvantage that acupuncture has is that when you have a disease that needs surgeries or chemotherapies, acupuncture cannot be of much help to except to help you reduce the side effects that your treatment might bring like nausea from chemotherapies, or swelling of throat and loss of appetite due to radiation treatments.

Another disadvantage is that like other kinds of medication, you cannot feel the effect of acupuncture with just one session; your program is made of many scheduled follow up treatments that can prove to be a hassle to some people. People that are impatient tend to now and then conclude that they wasted time and money on their acupuncture treatment that did not help them, but little do they know that acupuncture’s effect is gradual and can be felt through regular sessions through time. So if you understand that clearly then you can undergo acupuncture and not be impatient about the results and focus instead on the many benefits you can get from it.